The Little Town of Sderot

Below is an article written recently by one of my professors. Hopefully, this can help us better understand the current situation in Gaza.

THE LITTLE TOWN OF SDEROT

By Paul Liptz

December 29, 2008

Sderot is a small town close to the north east border of Gaza. It's like many of Israel's peripheral areas with an undeveloped town center, monotonous buildings, lower middle class inhabitants and by and large, citizens who don't really have the money to sell their apartments and move anywhere else. However, the difference between Sderot and most other areas in Israel is that this particular town has been the object of attacks from Gaza for the last eight years.

Sadly, Sderot had little influence with the decision makers. As long as they only suffered a little, it just wasn't worthwhile making too much of a fuss about it. For many Israelis, it was preferable for a small group of people to be under attack than to get involved in a major war. Anyway, there was a widely held belief that Hamas would agree to some form of a minimal cease fire and even though there is unlikely to ever be a peace treaty with them, many Israelis imagined that one could continue with this low level of conflict for an extended period of time, especially since it was "out there".

Some Sderot residents even seemed to be coming to terms with their vulnerable position. They realized that they had few powerful supporters and while the politicians periodically traveled to this outpost to have their photos taken with the locals, the really important issues of Israel were perceived as the events in Tel Aviv, Jerusalem and Haifa and in the banks, stock exchange and high tec firms.

In the historical context there was clearly a precedent for an "expendable" group. During the long years between Israel's Independence in 1948 and the 1967 Six Day War the kibbutzim and moshavim (collective villages) in the most northern area of the country had constantly been under Syrian fire. It hadn't seemed worthwhile going to war to ensure the safety of a relatively small group of citizens. Thus, year after year, children in the upper Galilee spent hours and days and sometimes weeks in bomb shelters while the Syrians shot down from the Golan Heights onto the defenseless villagers. It was only in June 1967 that the position changed radically and Israel took control of the Heights. I well remember my weeks on Kibbutz Dafna in June and July 1967 speaking to a whole generation of innocent people who would still look up to the mountains and wonder when the next alert would be sounded and the rush to ensure that their children were safe, waiting quietly in the harsh concrete bunkers until the all clear signal was sounded.

In many senses, life in Sderot was more difficult. There were few bomb shelters, despite continuing government promises that they would be built. As nuclear families populate this southern town, they didn't have the same kind of caring community and infrastructure that was of such importance to their northern brethren.

In 2005, during the painful unilateral disengagement process whereby several thousand Israelis were forcibly removed from their homes in the Gaza Strip, most people were convinced that now, with Gaza back in the hands of the Palestinians, everything would be just fine. And I was one of those optimists. However, on the second night after the Israeli withdrawal as I saw the Palestinians destroying the greenhouses and hacking at the water pipes, I realized my dream was ludicrous. I had so hoped that this was the first stage of Palestinian independence and slowly but surely, they would build their infrastructures - hospitals, schools and roads and that life would really become better for them.

The skeptics were correct. The Egyptians also quickly recognized that a Hamas controlled Gaza was a threat and so closed the border between them. Israel was troubled by the realities on the ground. Iranian military equipment was flowing into the area and it were designed for one purpose and one purpose only-to be used against the innocent residents of Sderot and the other small towns and villages in the area. The Israeli government decided to control the entry into Gaza of military equipment but permitted food and humanitarian supplies to flow in. However, tunnels built from Egypt were effectively developed and soon the attacks on Israeli citizens increased. The government stated again and again that it was responsible for the well-being of its citizens and thus could not allow a significant area of the country to be under constant attack. Israel's politicians appealed for understanding and asked global leaders a simple question- "What would you do if there were continuous attacks on your sovereign territory?"

More recently Israeli society came to a harsh realization. The attacks were not merely on Sderot, but some one million citizens in cities like Ashdod, Ashkelon, Kiryat Gat and even Beer Sheva would find themselves threatened. The government had no alternative but to take stern action. It was clear that Israel would be widely condemned for defending itself. It is hoped that civilians in Gaza would not unduly suffer but one can never ensure that in military conflict, innocent people won't suffer.

Israel's goals are clear and simple. Allow our citizens to live in peace and the people of Gaza can live their lives undisturbed. Few Israelis ever want to occupy Gaza again. There are too many good things happening in Israel itself and still numerous challenges before us. Now the time has come to try and establish a new reality.

As far as I'm concerned, the people of Gaza can live their lives as they want. The type of government system is up to them. How they behave towards their women is no longer my concern. Their relationship with other Arab countries is an issue only between them and the Arab world.

I hope our goals are rapidly attained. I have no wish to cause suffering to the Palestinians but there has to be an understanding that we, Israelis, are not just going to sit on the sidelines and allow ourselves to be decimated. We've worked too hard to build what we have and no-one, but no-one, is going to destroy us.

Paul Liptz immigrated to Israel on June 4, 1967. He was on the faculty of the Department of Middle Eastern and African History, Tel Aviv University for 35 years. He is on the staff of the Anita Saltz Center of the World Union of Progressive Judaism and lectures students at the Hebrew Union College in Jerusalem.

Happy Holidays from the Holy Land!!

Thank you, faithful blog readers, for still being faithful after a seven week hiatus from writing! Obviously, the last two months have been extremely busy here in Jerusalem... so busy I haven't had time to let you know what I'm up to! My last two months' activities can be divided into several categories: fun school activities, visitors, holiday celebrations, fun extracurricular activities, and the most important if not the most fun... SCHOOL!! I am 16 weeks into my fall (?) semester, including the few days here and there for vacation and celebration of the High Holy Days. My 2nd Temple History class has ended, and while I haven't added anything in it's place, I still have 9 classes and lots of activities, including football, choir, my internship at the Kibbutz, and school trips, on my schedule. More on some of the exciting things that have happened here...

#1: Fun School Activities!
As part of school's liturgy workshop program, we are required to lead services (I'll be leading in February), give a d'var Torah (sermon or literally "word of Torah"), and chant and translate Torah. I gave my d'var Torah on Monday, November 10th, and discussed the importance of helping other people do good deeds... in essence, the necessity of enabling other people to make a difference, not just doing so ourselves (if anyone is interested, I'm happy to send the full version to you). The next week, on November 17th, I chanted Torah for the first time in Israel (though I've done so many times at home)... I did so again last week, and am up one more time this coming week!

Unfortunately, due to the budget cuts that affected HUC (just like everyone else), we had to cut our fall tiyul to the North a bit short, but we did spend a long day in Haifa and Tzfat. Haifa is a northwestern port city where we visited the Leo Baeck School, a K-12 school, synagogue, and community center associated with the progressive movement in Israel. After our visit with program directors, the rabbi, young students, and high schoolers, we moved on to Tzfat, the city associated with Kabbalah and Jewish mysticism. There, we met with local artists, shopped around, and visited Tzfat's many old, beautiful synagogues. Before we made our way back to Jerusalem, we stopped in Tiberias, a city near the Kinneret (Sea of Galilee) for the first decent chinese food I've eaten in Israel (coincidentally, at the chinese restaurant where my cousin Joel first learned to like chinese food)!

elementary kids leading and participating in prayers at Leo Baeck

Another great perk of my time here at HUC in Jerusalem is that our teachers are very warm and friendly, and have graciously invited us into their homes to meet their families, eat their food, celebrate Shabbat, and to get to know each other better. I have been to the homes of the Head of Student Affairs, Nancy, and one of the instructors, Rabbi Shelly Donnell, for reflection group meetings, to the home of my Israel Seminar teacher, Paul Liptz, for a social evening, and to Dean Rabbi Dr. Michael Marmur's home to celebrate Shabbat with his family!

My volunteer project at Kibbutz Gezer, working with Rabbi Miri Gold at Birkat Shalom (a progressive synagogue) and with David Leichman at Pinat Shorashim (an education center), has been going amazingly well. I am really enjoying the work that I'm doing there, and I feel incredibly lucky to have the opportunity to become part of Miri and David's community and family- they are wonderful people to be around, give me great opportunities, go out of their way to help me and do nice things for me, and generally are there to come to when life in Jerusalem gets a little crazy. More on Kibbutz Gezer in a later post...

Finally, I am involved in Parallel Lives, the project that joins HUC students and Israeli soldiers in an effort to get to know each other, our cultures, and our lives. Jaclyn and LuAnne, our coordinators on the HUC side, planned an amazing Shabbaton for us all in Jerusalem at the beginning of the month. My roommates and I hosted two soldiers in our apartment, and we all spent the weekend together learning alot, making great friendships, and really getting to understand each other.

the Parallel Lives crew at the start of the Shabbaton (at school)

#2: VISITORS!!!
Over the past month, to the detriment of my school work but to the benefit of my overall happiness and well-being, I have had a slew of visitors!! First, Sean's mom Corinne, stepdad Jeff, and stepsister Shana came to Jerusalem as part of a performance trip for Jeff's choir. We celebrated Shabbat together at the Great Synagogue and at HUC, walked around the Old City, shopped ALOT, heard Jeff's concert, and ate wonderful meals together. A few weeks later, Rabbi Miri and David, the couple I work for at the Kibbutz, called to let me know that they were having dinner with a group from Kansas City that included my grandpa Sam's cousin, Rabbi Art Nemitoff... they invited me to dinner, and I got to visit with family! Last week, as the semester started to seem endless, Emily and Elle came to Israel on the OSU Hillel Birthright Trip and then extended their trip for four days to spend time with me! I got to meet their travel buddies, go with them to a truly obscure bar, and then play "sorority house" with them in my giant bedroom that all of a sudden seemed very tiny with all of us and all of our stuff! Together we celebrated Hanukkah, "celebrated" Christmas, toured the Old City, went shopping, ate alot, and reconnected... it was truly wonderful to have such close friends here with me. Finally, just tonight, I got to meet up with Brian, one of my best friends from high school, for dinner and shopping during his birthright trip! Next week, I believe I'll be meeting up with Andrea, another friend from both OSU and high school. Anyone else want to come visit? I have a comfy futon you can sleep on!!

#3: Celebrations!!

Not everyone would consider a football game a celebration, but when OSU beats Michigan 45 to 7 AND you get to watch that game via the internet with 10 friends in Jerusalem, you have to amend your definition a bit! My classmate Dan Geffen was kind enough to host the party, and I, along with other Big Ten alum classmates and some general football lovers, watched OSU pound on Michigan. Go Bucks!

Michigan Fans, OSU Fans, and a few football lovers together for the OSU Michigan Game!

Just a few days later was Thanksgiving in Jerusalem... the day I was looking forward to the least all year. Thanksgiving in my family is a huge deal- it's often my grandma's birthday, my entire family is in town, and I always spend several days cooking with my grandma and stuffing and sewing the turkey. This year, my family went on a trip (without me!!!) to celebrate my grandma's 75th, and needless to say, I was a little sad. Luckily, the Kef Committee (but really Leslie, the mastermind of meals and parties here in J'lem) put together a WONDERFUL school-wide Thanksgiving dinner. Four of us, including me, who had experience with turkeys, got elected to make the 15 lb "birds" (as my grandma calls them). After an hour of plucking pin feathers that made my index fingers bleed, I put my "bird" in a roasting bag with all my grandma's usual seasonings, put it in the oven, and hoped for the best... luckily, the turkey came out tasting just like it does at home- turns out I really did learn something!! The dinner at school was absolutely wonderful, with everyone coming through with wonderful dishes, a great talk about the Birkat Hamazon (the prayer after eating), donations to the HUC soup kitchen in NYC, and a great game led by Joel where we each wrote down what we were thankful for and then read another person's contribution. It was a wonderful Thanksgiving, all things considered.

the Thansgiving Spread... don't worry, you can't even see the four turkeys!

here's my Turkey!!! I gave it a thumbs-up... hopefully Gram would have, also!

Now it may still be Chanukah here in Israel, and this may be a Jewish country, but yes, I still "celebrated" Christmas here! For starters, feeling nostalgic for Christmas music, Ari, Joel, and I found some internet radio stations and listened to it ALL of last Saturdy while we made a test batch of latkes! I also ventured into the Christian Quarter of the Old City, as well as Mt. Zion, with Joel, Emily, and Elle, to seek out a little Christmas spirit on Christmas Eve... we found some interesting stuff, including a parade of slightly-scary Santas!! Though I missed a bit of the music, I definitely didn't feel too bad about missing commericialized Christmas in the States!

a sign wishing everyone in the Christian Quarter a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year in both English and Arabic!

And of course, we can't forget my very first Chanukah in Israel!! I made test latkes with Joel and Ari, shopped for a new menorah with Emily and Elle (compliments of my parents- thanks, Mom and Dad!), saw Hassidic rabbis light a GIANT menorah with the help of a cherry-picker truck in Zion Square at Ben Yehuda St, made latkes AGAIN with the guys, Joel's roommate, and Em and Elle, lit my new menorah several times with my roommates, my visitors, and Lisa's mom who is visiting, played Chanukah songs with Ari at our school party, participated in Mysterious Menorah (read: Secret Santa) with my classmates, and had a delicious Shabbat + Chanukah dinner at my apartment, courtesy of Lisa and her mom, with lots of friends. Everyone you look there is a reminder of Chanukah- it has been wonderful to celebrate with an entire country of people, and for the first time, to not feel on the outskirts of the holiday season but as part of the majority!

Joel and Ari doing the Latke test-run, complete with Christmas music!

Lisa and me lighting our new Chanukiot (menorahs) on the 5th night!

As a side note, I want to mention what's going on in Israel today... I won't go into the politics of it all, but if you'd like details, please read the news at www.haaretz.com. I can only hope that there will be peace here soon. Please know that I, along with the rest of my classmates, am fine and currently away from any immediate danger. School is monitoring the situation carefully, and we will be as safe as possible in the coming days. I will keep you updated should anything more happen here.

I'll be back in the State for three whole weeks (yay!) starting January 9th, but in the meantime...
Happy 7th Night of Chanukah, Merry Christmas, and (almost) Happy New Year 2009!!!

The Four Month Mark... Trying to Be American in Israel!

These last three weeks since I returned from Istanbul have certainly been busy and exciting! We are finally into the swing of things at school, and believe me, the work has definitely picked up! Of all my classes, I'm really enjoying History of the Zionist Movement, Israel Seminar, and Cantillation (way of singing/chanting the Torah portions). My history class is taught by a terrific Brit turned Israeli teacher who is so excited about the material and so amazingly smart that you just can't help being excited by the subject. Israel Seminar is the class in which we spend one day a week examining the history and current issues that affect Israeli society. We have been on all kinds of trips, including excursions to the Galilee and Golan Heights, Tel Aviv, neighborhoods of Jerusalem, and most recently, Qumran (where the Dead Sea Scrolls were found) and Masada. I love my cantillation class, perhaps because it's the most musical thing I get to do here... the class is taught by a cantor and the class is filled mostly with cantorial students, along with a few other musical rabbinic students. The most exciting part is being able to connect my past cantillation experience, newfound knowledge of biblical grammar, and of course, modern Hebrew, with all of the trope (musical markings in the Torah) that I'm learning.

caves at Qumran where many of the scrolls were found

the view from atop Mt. Masada

Outside of class, I have spent another few days at my community service internship at Kibbutz Gezer. Harrison, the other student I work with, and I went out to Gezer a few weeks ago to finally do BOTH parts of our program. In the morning, we worked with prisoners from a nearby jail- they came to visit us at the Kibbutz, where we had a discussion on the weekly Torah portion, picked 70 kilograms of olives, and just got to know each other. It was a very eye-opening and humbling experience for me, even though I have some background in prison work from my time in the social work program at OSU. After the prisoners left, Harrison, David (the head of the education center at Gezer), his wife Miri (the Rabbi at Gezer), two other visitors of theirs, and I went out to lunch at "our place" in nearby Ramla, called Samir's. We also took the olives to be made into olive oil at a shop where we sampled freshly made halva and tahina (both made from sesame seeds). Harrison and I relaxed and studied for a test at Miri and David's in the afternoon, and then lead music for Shabbat evening services at Birkat Shalom, Miri's congregation on the Kibbutz. The congregation really seemed to like our music, and I even got to have a nice chat with some congregants who are recent immigrants from Peru... EN ESPANOL!! It was WONDERFUL to get to lead services again, and I'm really looking forward to going back soon. We finished out the evening with an amazing dinner at Miri and David's with a guest of theirs and their daughter.

In an attempt to connect with the American lives we left behind, the Kef committee sponsored the HUC Halloween Bash of 2008- since Halloween was on Shabbat, we celebrated a day early! Jillian graciously volunteered her apartment and mirpeset (porch) for the party, and Ari and Joel, who were spearheading the event, spent an entire day shopping, decorating, and making food and drinks for the party. Leslie had a bunch of us over for a pre-party finger food dinner, which was delicious as always. We spent the rest of the evening at the party with "witches brew", candy, popcorn, and a costume contest. Jaclyn won the contest with her very convincing Sarah Palin, while I came in a close second as Facebook.

me as Facebook!

The weather all of a sudden turned from summer (85+ degrees everyday, very dry, and sunny) to winter (60 degrees for most of the day, somewhat cloudy, and damp and rainy) almost overnight. As a result, I've been trying to be a little more physically active, especially so I don't get the "winter blahs" by sitting inside too much. I have been taking a Tae Kwon Do class taught by a fellow student, which has been a lot of fun and good exercise, though it's frustrating not to remember much from those many years of Tae Kwon Do in middle school! I also joined the HUC flag football team, called the Wise Guys (after Rabbi Isaac Mayer Wise, who founded HUC)... we lost our first game last night, but to be fair, we were missing half of our team due to illness, had had one practice prior to the game, and played a team that's been together for years. We still had a great time, though, and despite pulling several leg muscles (really, seeing me walk right now is super interesting) while warming up, I managed to pull off a GREAT play in the second half- 7ish yard catch that turned into another 40 rushing yards!! I unfortunately may have to leave choir, which I have been enjoying, to play football, but I really am enjoying running around outside since I spend so much of every day sitting in class. I am getting my singing taken care of in cantillation and at Kibbutz Gezer, so I should be okay.

Last weekend, I hit the four month mark... since I'll be spending around three weeks at home in January and leaving in the last week of May, the end of December will be halfway! It's been a great adventure so far, but I'm definitely missing family, friends, Sean, and of course, my life in the States. Luckily, I've been getting lots of emails and phone calls, the occassional piece of mail (that's really the Israeli post office's fault), and even flowers!!

"Flowers from Flowers"... Sean sent roses for our anniversary :)

The big event of the last few weeks, however, had to be last night's election. I took a nap from midnight until 1:45am, and then woke up to watch election coverage with Joel and Ari in my living room! We watched yucky Fox News on mute on the TV (it's the only news channel we get) and CNN/MSNBC on the slingbox that's hooked up to Sean's cable in Columbus. We had a GREAT time watching the election, drinking coffee, coloring in maps, and of course, toasting Obama's win with champagne at 6am!! By the way, I received my absentee ballot at the LAST MINUTE yesterday, just in time to stick it in the mail to be counted! Luckily, my wonderful state of Ohio (and even my usually Republican Hamilton county) went for Obama anyway, so they didn't even need me! After the election, we all headed to school on almost no sleep to meet our friends, the majority of whom greeted us and each other with cheers and hugs! I am truly proud to be an Ohioan and an American today... it's about time that this country opted for something and someone new and fresh, and it's DEFINITELY time we elected someone different to the White House- I am proud to be part of a country that can elect a Black man to be president, especially a man that is running against an white, protestant, male war hero. It just goes to show that the American people wanted change, knew who the right man for the job was, and wasn't afraid to vote for him despite lingering racism in this country. I'm optimistic about the next few years in the States, and I'm excited to see what the future brings.

Joel updates our HUC classmates who are in the airport on their way to Berlin, while I stick my head through the divider between my room and the living room to show off Joel's electoral map!

Joel, Ari, and me toasting President-elect Obama at 6am!

Congratulations America!

Istanbul (Not Constantinople)!

Time for my long-awaited post about our big trip to Turkey (unless, of course, you didn't know about my trip since I've waited two weeks to write about it)! The Israeli parts of my nice, long Sukkot break were spent: at services at Har-El where I took a shot of whiskey with the American cantor, at a VERY strange parade up and down the biggest street in the city that consisted of Israeli kids, bank workers, musicians, and veterans, as well as evangelical Christians form all over the world, and Simchat Torah (the holiday where we finish reading the last part of Deuteronomy and start the beginning of Genesis) where I got to play in the HUC "band" for the hakafot (7 circles danced with the Torah).

















Israel Defense Force Band















The start of the Evangelical Christian Groups















A very awesome group














BRASIL!

Joel, Ari, and I headed off for Istanbul on Thursday night... after a delayed flight on a charter airline and a bus ride full of Israelis also vacationing in Turkey, we arrived at the (not so) amazing Hotel Klas. We went out exploring that first night to find a) dinner and b) the big sites we were interested in seeing the next day. Dinner was at the (fake) authentic Ottoman restaurant Safran where we ate gozelemes (crepes made with potatoes, spinach, etc), kabobs, rice, and all kinds of other "authentic" foods. After dinner, we found our way to the heart of Sultanahmet, the old city of Istanbul, where we took pictures of the Blue Mosque and Hagia Sophia, the main old city attractions that happen to be BEAUTIFUL at night.















The Blue Mosque at night














Hagia Sophia at night


Friday, our first day, started with an interesting (read: yucky- hard boiled eggs, toast and butter, some weird hot dog looking things, and cheese) breakfast at Hotel Klas, followed by a visit to the Blue Mosque. The Blue Mosque was built in 1616 by Sultan Ahmed, is the national mosque of Turkey, and is known as the Blue Mosque because of the blue iznik tiles adorning the inside of the mosque. The Blue Mosque the very first tourist attraction I've ever visited in my socks! After the Blue Mosque, we hit our next big site- Hagia Sophia. Hagia Sophia (Aya Sophia in Turkish) is a church turned mosque turned museum that was built by Emperor Justinian in 537- it is still standing and looking amazingly beautiful after almost 1500 years! Hagia Sophia's most impressive feature (besides it's age) is the presence of famous, beautiful mosaics all over the church. Our next stop after Hagia Sophia was... (drumroll please)... STARBUCKS! We hadn't seen a Starbucks (or drip coffee- we mostly have instant here in Israel) in four months, so we figured we should visit! We then went to Topkapi Palace, which was the official residence of Ottoman sultans from 1465-1853. The Palace boasts 4 courtyards and an amazing number of rooms- we saw the kitchens, treasury (home to some amazingly huge diamonds and the Topkapi dagger), and most impressively, the Harem (residence of the Sultan and his mother, wives, concubines, and children). We even saw/heard a performance of a Mehter Band- the Ottoman military band! Before we left, we saw a temporary exhibit of Turkish synagogues at the palace- talk about surprises!














Blue Mosque




















I'm at the Blue Mosque!
















Inside of the Blue Mosque















Hagia Sophia















Inside of Hagia Sophia















Mosaic inside Hagia Sophia Hagia Sophia















Kicking back with a Starbucks drink















Topkapi Palace















the Mehter band

After our crazy day of siteseeing, we finally grabbed lunch at 4pm! After "lunch," we decided to quickly check out the Grand Bazaar, built in 1461- this covered market is the largest of its kind in the world, covering over 58 streets! The bazaar includes 6,000 stores...leather stores, jewelry stores, clothing stores, souvenir shops, dish stores, and more! After a quick break at the fabulous Hotel Klas, we took the street car through the old city and across the bridge straddling the Golden Horn (water between the old city and new city) to the new city of Istanbul, called Beyoğlu. We walked through Istiklal Caddessi, the main drag of the new city, and checked out all the hopping bars and clubs, cool restaurants, and designer shops. We ate dinner at a very Turkish restaurant- "Fast Wok"! We clearly needed another taste of America! After dinner, we checked out a famous bar called 360 that had gorgeous views of the entire city AND $14 drinks... oops!














My big apple tea and Ari's little apple tea














360 bar and the view!

We began Saturday with a trip to another part of Istanbul- the Asian side! Yes, the city not only has a new side and an old side, but it also has a side on another continent! We took the ferry to the Asian side for only a dollar, and then went about exploring the neighborhoods. Since the Asian side is mostly residential, we decided to take a risk by searching for a famous Jewish neighborhood and synagogue in an area called Kuzguncuk. Good news- we found the synagogue! Bad news- we were immediately stopped by the Turkish "polis" who checked Ari's passport, tried to decided if we were Jewish, and had us VERY scared. They didn't speak English, we didn't speak Turkish, and since we weren't sure what they were thinking about us, we decided to just get out of there! We took the ferry back to the European side of the city to check out the Spice Bazaar, where we bought apple tea and baklava, and tried a disgusting candy called "Turkish Delight"! After the Spice Bazaar, we had lunch in a bazaar restaurant, and then went shopping the Grand Bazaar. We did some serious bargaining to buy pashminas for me and the guys' moms/sisters, and I even had a 50 year old store owner chase after me and offer me free stuff if I would go on a date with him! I got out of it by pretending that Ari was my boyfriend and getting him to tell the guy that he wouldn't want me going out with someone else!











On the ferry with Joel












Joel and me eating baklava

After this long, tiring, and cold (who knew it was cold in Istanbul this time of year?) day, we went back to the hotel to rest before our night out. Due to the fact that we were tired, cold, dirty, and all had to pee, we clearly got stuck in the elevator. For at least ten (very long) minutes. When the elevator got to what we thought was our floor, it opened up to a cement wall- clearly not our floor! We closed the door and tried another floor- same thing! As we tried every floor, we started getting nervous... so, we hit the alarm button- and nothing happened. We start trying to decide how we're ever going to get out, if anyone knows we're stuck, how we're going to "hold it" for several hours, and think "well, it's good that we have pretzels to eat and cards to play with!" We tried one more time at the top floor- this time, we managed to get about a foot of room at the top of the open elevator that was actually on a floor- so Ari jams his arm in the door, rips it halfway open, and yells (in English, which nobody understood) that we are stuck. Some guys are on this floor (they know the elevator is broken), tell us something in Turkish, and pretty soon free us from our prison. After a few hours playing cards to recoup from this event, we headed out for our big night on the town.

We spent our last night in Istanbul in the quaint, beautiful village of Ortaköy... even though it took about an hour to get there in the crazy traffic, we really enjoyed this neighborhood. We ate dinner overlooking the Bosphorus Strait, next to the Mecidiye Mosque, found the Eitz HaHayim synagogue (which made up for our sad adventure on the Asian side), and had a decidedly Turkish evening drinking tea, eating dessert, playing cards, and smoking nargile (water pipe) at a restaurant with the same beautiful view.












Eitz HaHayim Synagogue




















Our evening relaxation spot

Our last day, Sunday, started with a trip to the Galata Tower on the new side of the city. The Galata Tower was built by the Genoese in 1348, survived fires and earthquakes, and even served as a prison at some point! For us, it was a great way to overlook the whole city and take some great pictures. Afterwards, we found the Pera Palas Hotel, the hotel where all the Orient Express passengers stayed and where Agatha Christie supposedly wrote Murder on the Orient Express... unfortunately, we just saw the outside since it's closed for renovations.












Enjoying the view from the Galata Tower












Ari at the Pera Palas Hotel

After a stop for some Turkish coffee, we headed back to the old city side to see the Sirkeci Station, the terminus of the Orient Express and the current last stop for all trains coming through Europe. As we walked around eating all the different kinds of corn sold on the street (this was clearly my idea), we fond the Book Bazaar, another great outdoor market in the Grand Bazaar area. We then saw the Süleymaniye Mosque complex, built in 1557, which includes the mosque (most of which is unfortunately under renovation), Sultan Suleyman the Magnificent's tomb, the tomb of his favorite wife Roxelana, and the tomb of the famous architect Sinan. We visited the Hippodrome, which used to be a Byzantine stadium and racetrack, but is now a park marked with three monuments (dating back 500, 1000, and 1500 years respectively). We had lunch on the main street of Sultanahmet, did a little souvenir shopping, and then played cards FOREVER in the lobby of the hotel since our airport transfer bus was over an hour late!! We took one last picture of the ridiculous but well-located Hotel Klas, boarded our charter plan again at the Istanbul airport, arrived in Israel, and took a sherut back to our apartments.












Orient Express train at Sirkeci Station












Goodbye Hotel Klas!

• For more (and definitely easier to read) details on our trip, check out Joel's blog at http://sandsandcliffs.blogspot.com/

• For more pictures of the trip, check out my Picassa website at http://picasaweb.google.com/meredith.kahan

And update on life post-Sukkot break coming soon!

Meredith

Chag Sameach!

Chag Sameach (Happy Holiday)! Last night started Sukkot, another of the fall holidays of the Jewish calendar. Over the last few weeks, I have celebrated Rosh HaShanah (the Jewish New Year), Yom Kippur (the Day of Atonement), and Sukkot (Festival of Booths). Sukkot will continue through next week (the holiday is a week long), ending in Shmini Atzeret (the 8th Day of Assembly, the 8th day after the 7 days of Sukkot) and Simchat Torah (the day celebrating the Torah and the reading of the last part of the Bible and then the first part). While these holidays are important in the US, especially Rosh HaShanah and Yom Kippur, this season of holidays are of the utmost important and are the center of attention here in Israel. Think Christmas... but instead of pictures of Santa and "Merry Christmas" on the Coke bottles, here there are streamers and "Chag Sameach" written on my 1.75 (usually 1.5 L, but apparently there is a 1/4 L "bonus" for the holiday!) Liter bottle of Diet Coke! Now for a run-down of my holiday experience thus far...

Israel's version of Santa Claus Coke bottles!

Rosh HaShanah

I just have to mention, before I talk about Rosh HaShanah, that I held a 5am football watching party at my apartment for the OSU vs. Wisconsin game… needless to say, we had some rivalries going on, especially between Ari (Wisconsin alum) and me. As the picture shows, we handled this extremely maturely!

I spent Erev (evening) Rosh HaShanah services at HUC. Services were led by our rockstar Dean, Rabbi Dr. Michael Marmur, Cantor Dr. Eliyahu Schleifer (a 70 year old cantor who is one of the foremost experts of European chazzanut (Jewish liturgical music), especially the music of the old Reform European communities), and the HUC student choir, composed of our all-female cantorial class and several of the rabbinic student men. Services at HUC were familiar as far as music goes, but there was very little congregational participation and there were very few people there, even as compared to my smaller congregation in Cincinnati. After services, the majority of the HUC class gathered for a catered Rosh HaShanah seder (festival meal and service where we blessed the seven species of Israel- pomogranates, dates, grapes, figs, wheat, barley, and olives) and dinner. After dinner, Harrison (another rabbinic student with whom I intern at the Kibbutz) led a song session for all of the students.

The first day of Rosh HaShanah was spent at HUC services again- they were a bit better than the first day, but still disappointing in the lack of participation and the small number of attendees. After services, I brought tuna salad to a lovely brunch held by Amy and Sarah. A Rosh HaShanah nap was followed by dinner at Adena's, to which I brought my first ever homemade fried rice.
As I don't usually attend 2nd day Rosh HaShanah services in the States, I wasn't sure that I wanted to go to HUC services again. Jaclyn, Joel, and I decided that we would "shul hop" for the 2nd day instead of going back to HUC for the whole morning. We visited (in this order) Masoret Yisrael (the congregation affiliated with the American Conservative movement), the Great Synagogue (the official Orthodox congregation of Jerusalem), the Italian Synagogue (a historical synagogue that was essentially disassembled in Italy and rebuilt here in Israel), and Har-El (the oldest Progressive congregation in Jerusalem, with whom HUC held services that day). Masoret Yisrael was a perfectly lovely and familiar if not boring experience- my classmates and I brought the average age of the congregation down about forty years, and most of the congregants were clearly native North Americans. The Great Synagogue was certainly busier than Masoret Yisrael- there were a few hundred people there at least, with men and women praying in their respective parts of the synagogue and children running all around with their snacks and toys. I truly enoyed the spirited singing of the Cantor and (all-male) choir, but because I a) was not too familiar with the tunes and b) was given a Siddur that was Hebrew/Russian, I had a hard time following along. I felt very much on the outside because I was sitting in the women's section (a HUGE balcony) but I enjoyed observing this unique experience. The Italian Synagogue was the most physically beautiful of the synagogues we visited. There was an intense feeling of prayerfulness in the shul, both in the women’s section (which had room for about 20 and was packed with at least 40 people plus their children) and the men’s section (which women freely stood on the edge of and peeked in to). I had a hard time participating here due to my lack of seat/space to pray and prayerbook, but it was very cool to see this close-knit of a community (in fact, my roommate Deana's aunt married an Italian guy and this is their congregation). Our last stop was at Har-El, though unfortunately we only caught the sermon (given in Hebrew!), shofar blowing, and closing prayers.

Rosh HaShanah was concluded with a GREAT dinner at Leslie's, which featured about 20 guests, my regular AND sweet potatoes, lots of other great food, and at least 15 bottles of wine... OY. We had a practical seminar day after Rosh HaShanah ended, and then had another two days off for Shabbat! I got to spend a great Friday in Tel Aviv with Leslie and Jaclyn that was full of all kinds of crazy adventures, including a Sherut car accident, cab drivers predicting Armageddon, and better food than can be found anywhere in Jerusalem. We then had three regular days of school before Yom Kippur started.

OSU v. Wisconsin pillow fight prior to the game

songleading at the HUC dinner

dinner at Leslie's... see my potatoes?

Yom Kippur
In preparation for the break fast meal that my roommates and I held on Thursday night, I spent my day on Wednesday running around the city to various Holy Bagel locations attempting to pick up our bagel order- clearly not as easy as it is in the States! Because Yom Kippur evening services start much earlier here than at home (daylight savings time starts on the weekend between Rosh HaShanah and Yom Kippur here, meaning that the sun now goes down around 5pm!), Joel and I, along with classmates Benji and Leah and a friend of Leah's from home, went to classmate Daniel and his girlfriend Jessica's apartment for a pre-fast meal at 2:30pm! Dinner was GREAT, but it was weird to be eating this big festival meal in the middle of the day. Kol Nidre (Yom Kippur evening services, named for the important prayer found at the beginning of the service) services were the best of all of the HUC services, in my opinion. There were TONS of people there, every sang along, and services were held in a room that has a huge picture window overlooking the Old City (this was also the case for Rosh HaShanah). The cantorial students sang many of the major pieces (they also did this for Rosh HaShanah) during services, including Sh'ma Koleinu, Avinue Malkeinu, and Unetaneh Tokef- they were SO impressive! After services, a bunch of us walked together down to the German Colony neighborhood to see one of Jerusalem's most amazing sights of the year. Yom Kippur is the one day of the year in Israel where truly NOBODY drives (this is not necessarily the case on Shabbat, even in Jerusalem)... as a result, you can literally just walk around in the middle of huge streets- and everyone does! I walked down the middle of some of the largest, busiest streets in the city during Yom Kippur- totally crazy! That night, we went to see the Jerusalem phenomenon that everyone's been talking about- after services, people come out onto the streets of their neighborhoods to make in-person apologies to their friends, neighbors, and family (as required in Judaism in order to be forgiven for the offenses against other people). It was a once-in-a-lifetime experience.

On Yom Kippur, I attended services ALL day, except for a quick hour break during which I took a nice nap. I had two favorite parts of the services that day. First was the addition of a Sephardic (Jews originating from Spain- including Morrocan, Yemenite, Spanish, Italian, etc. Jews today) Slichot (service asking for forgiveness) service- this was very new to me but very easy to participate in. The other moment was when the congregation sang Hatikvah ("The Hope" the national anthem of Israel) while overlooking the Old City at night- it was SO powerful and the first true moment of this year that I felt completely content being here in Israel. After services, about 60 people gathered at our apartment for a break fast!!! It was so great to get the entire class together, but it was very smushed and definitely crazy!

sampling some of the break fast food

Josh, Jason, me, Jimmy, Lisa, Joel, and Jaclyn enjoying the food

Sukkot
The three and a half days leading up to Sukkot after Yom Kippur were fairly eventful. On Friday, a bunch of my classmates gathered to decorate the Sukkah (festival booth) at school- it kind of looking likes it was decorated by 8-year-olds, but we're proud of it! Afterwards, I went on an excursion with some classmates to see the temporary shuk (market) set up for the selling of the Arba Minim (the four species- the three kinds of branches that make up the Lulav (myrtle, palm, and willow), and the Etrog, which sort of looks like a lemon- you hold these four together and shake them during Sukkot services and while in your Sukkah). This was a very unique experience, and I even got to buy three Etrogim with which I will eventually make jam or liqueur, whichever I decide sounds like more fun later on- for now, they're just smelling up my room! That evening, after a trip to the regular Shuk to buy food, Joel made a great Shabbat dinner at his apartment. Shabbat was spent, for the fourth weekend now, with Joel and Ari- our thing is to have a completely relaxing day… SO, we make breakfast for lunch (it’s been French toast, this week was cottage cheese pancakes- very good!) and then watch two movies, usually at least one of which I have never seen.

Joel and me in the Sukkah at HUC

Dean Marmur joined in on the fun

an Orthodox man inspecting palm branches for his Lulav

Saturday evening was Jason’s 25^th birthday dinner, followed by my first ever experience at Babette’s, this amazing waffle place (see the pictures to catch my drift). On Sunday, our class took a field trip for our Israel seminar class to Tel Aviv to learn about the founding of the country, the Palmach army that fought for Israel’s independence, and Tel Aviv’s unique identity. Sukkot started yesterday evening not with any Sukkot celebrations, but with a lovely dinner with friends. I spent the day getting work done, running errands, having a nice lunch and relaxing afternoon with Sarah, and making brownies. I brought my brownies (as did Joel and Leslie) to Jaclyn’s house to have dinner with her mom who is visiting from the States! This morning, I attended Sukkot services at Har-El- I got to shake the Lulav and Etrog, act as the golelet (the person who dresses the Torah after it’s read), and take a shot of brandy with the cantor in the Sukkah- it was quite a day! The city has been gearing up for Sukkot, and rumor has it that all kinds of awesome things (an Evangelical Christian parade for their celebration of the Feast of Tabernacles, live music and concerts, dancing in the parks, and Sukkahs EVERYWHERE at every apartment building, hotel, restaurant, and synagogue) will be going on here- I’ll keep you posted. After Sukkot will be Shmini Atzeret and Simchat Torah- the evening of this day will be spent at Kibbutz Gezer, the kibbutz where I am the intern. They have invited our entire class to the Kibbutz for the holiday, so Harrison and I are taking 25 classmates there to visit. The next morning, I, along with many of my classmates, will be playing music at Har-El for the hakafot (dancing with the Torah).

waffle eating is clearly a skill that I do not possess

I’m sorry that this has been the longest post EVER… however, I am spending the rest of my Sukkot break (that’s right, I’m on break for 10 days, not that I’ve been to more than 6 days of school in the last month!) in ISTANBUL!! Joel, Ari, and I are traveling to Istanbul for four days at the end of this week. My next blog entry will be all about our trip.

Chag Sameach!

Meredith